Senate Dems discuss women’s health at panel

Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins and her fellow Democrats held a public forum on women’s health, inviting an all-female group of health experts to discuss legislation that has stalled in their chamber.

Tuesday morning’s forum is the latest in a series of similar sessions called by the minority conference to draw attention to Democratic legislation — also including measures concerning a minimum wage boost, hydrofracking and more — that has received no love from the Republican majority.

“I believe there is a concerted war against women,” said panel member Sen. Toby Stavisky in her opening comments, referring to the heavily politicized battle over reproductive rights nationwide. She is a sponsor of two bills that would expand insurance coverage and eliminate deductibles for certain cancer screenings.

The testimony began with a discussion of S.6342, sponsored by Sen. Shirley Huntley, that would require the dissemination of information about sexual assault counseling to female veterans.

Ardeane Greene-Cook, a former Army medic, offered testimony in favor of the bill and described a pattern of systematic sexual abuse and humiliation during her military service.

A drill sergeant, she said, told her, “You are here for the men’s pleasure,” soon after she enlisted.

Greene-Cook, who said she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of her abuse, explained that it is difficult for military servicewomen to speak about their difficulties. “Once you’re in, you keep your mouth shut,” she said, citing fears of losing one’s benefits, education, and salary as the result of speaking out.

Further panel discussions focused on legislation introduced by Sens. Stewart-Cousins and Stavisky as well as Liz Krueger that would move provisions regarding abortion from the penal code to the health code.

Sabrina Shulman, testifying on behalf of NARAL Pro-Choice, said that the bill will help turn the reproductive rights discussion to engage a new generation of women who have grown up in a post-Roe v. Wade era. “For them, it has always been a health care issue, not a rights one,” Shulman said. “This isn’t a march-down-the-road-with-placards issue.”

The panel closed with a wide-ranging discussion of the impact of the federal Affordable Care Act and proposed changes to insurers’ coverage of women’s health issues.

Under the new federal law, which in New York has been expedited by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive ordersetting up health exchanges, “Being a woman is no longer a pre-existing condition for health coverage,” said Jasmine Burnett of Raising Women’s Voices-NY.

But according to the legislators and experts at the forum, obstacles remain — and they pressed for the passage of current outstanding legislation.

Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson appealed to her Senate colleagues in her closing remarks.

“Those who aren’t sympathetic to women’s issues should certainly be sympathetic to children’s issues,” she said, saying that bills that would expand medical coverage and contraceptive availability central to family welfare.